I scrubbed my hair a second time before adding conditioner. At my feet, bits of seaweed swirled near the drain.
“I hate mermaids,” I called loud enough for Oanen to hear. He probably would have heard without me yelling, but I wanted the volume to convey the loathing I felt.
“Lakes too!”
I finished up in the shower and quickly dressed. When I joined him in the kitchen, he was leaning against the counter, waiting for me.
“So a moonlit ride in a gondola is out?”
“Since gondolas are usually found in Italy, no. I’d suffer some water for that to happen. But more swimming in Lake Uttira? No way.”
He pushed away from the counter and stalked toward me. My stomach fluttered wildly, but nothing started burning. I still couldn’t believe that I was okay.
He snagged the edge of my shirt and slowly reeled me into his arms.
“Are we done fighting this, now?”
“You were never fighting it,” I said with a small smile.
“Stubborn fury, just answer the question.”
I grinned and stood on my toes to kiss him lightly.
“I’m done fighting what’s happening between us.”
“Good.” He released me then tugged me toward the table where he had sandwiches waiting for us. A brownie sat on my plate, too.
“I’m so hungry,” I said. I sat and took a huge bite, moaning at the taste of mayonnaise and turkey.
“Thought you might be.” His lips twitched as he watched me swallow. “That brownie is from Michigan, which is where I was when Eliana called me.”
I wrinkled my nose and squinted at him.
“Is this where you lecture me again?”
“Nope.” He picked up his sandwich and took a bite.
I could see he wanted to say more and waited for him to finish chewing. He didn’t leave me waiting long.
“I’m too smart to annoy a fury with lectures.”
“I’m going to remember that.”
“I bet you will. I’m sorry I didn’t find your mom,” he said, changing the subject. “I’ll look again when I go to New York.”
“We’ll look,” I said after finishing another bite.
He frowned at me.
“Did you already forget our promise?” I asked. “Together from now on. Remember?”
“That might be a problem when I need to leave for Council matters.”
I grinned. “I don’t think so. First, there’s no longer any reason for the Council to keep me trapped here. I’m not burning you every time we touch now, and I didn’t beat Eras tonight even though I was angry. That means I have control. I just have to tell Adira tomorrow. Second, the Council doesn’t own you. You’re the one who told me not to be a cog in their wheel of lies.”
“I don’t recall saying wheel of lies,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching.
“It was implied. Regardless, they don’t own you, right? So, until I get my mark, we’ll stick together. And once I have my mark, if you choose to continue to help the Council, I’ll go also. If we’re lucky, we’ll run into my mom at some point.”
“You still want to find her?” he asked.
“Yeah. I want to know why she couldn’t have spent five minutes explaining things to me instead of just bailing.”
After we finished up our late dinner, we went to the living room where we watched TV together. Oanen held me the whole time, his fingers traveling the length of my arm. I stopped watching several times to turn my head and kiss him. Each time ended with me breathless and wanting more. But, no fire. No burns.
I stared out at the Quills’ large house, not looking forward to our meeting.
“We can go do something else,” Oanen said.
I laughed lightly and shook my head.
“There’s nothing else to do in this town at eight in the morning.”
“We could go back to bed.”
I turned to him and arched my brow. We spent the night comfortably sleeping in each other’s arms. It’d been the best night’s sleep I’d had in ages. The kisses he’d trailed along my neck to wake me had been amazing, too.
“I like this new you,” he said. “I know when you’re thinking about me. Your eyes start glowing light orange.”
“How do you know I wasn’t getting mad at you?”
“They start glowing a deeper orange when you’re angry.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him.
“As much as I want to have a repeat of last night, I also want to get this done.” I glanced at the house again. “You won’t try to stop me, right?”
“No. I’ll support whatever decisions you make in there. Even against my parents. I trust you, Megan.”
“All right. Let’s do this.”
We got out and walked the snow-covered path. As usual, his mom opened the door before we reached it.
“Good morning you two,” she said with a wide smile.
I frowned at her barely contained joy, not trusting it.
“I changed my mind. Let’s leave,” I said softly, threading my fingers through Oanen’s.
A look of hurt crossed Mrs. Quill’s face.
“I know these past few weeks have been a struggle for you—”
“No thanks to the Council and Adira,” I said.
“—but I want you to know, I couldn’t be happier with Oanen’s choice in a mate.”
Oh, sure. Now, she was happy.
Oanen’s fingers squeezed mine lightly, and I knew I needed to be gracious for his sake.
“Thanks.” That was as gracious as she was getting from me after trying to keep us apart.
She smiled and stepped aside to let us in.
“We’re meeting in the study,” she said.
Oanen and I walked the familiar path. When we entered, I was surprised to see several people already there. While I recognized Fenris’ dad, Mr. Quill, and Adira, the rest were new to me.
“Thank you for coming, Megan,” Adira said, turning toward me. “With your permission, my sister and I would like to lay our hands on you.”
I glanced at Oanen, wondering what the hell was going on. The amused glint in his eyes and encouraging nod had me agreeing. He released my hand and took a few steps back.
Mrs. Quill touched one shoulder and Adira the other. Both said several soft words I couldn’t understand. A flare of pain scorched the inside of my wrist, and I jerked back from their hold. Lifting my arm, I saw the small, umber mark of Mantirum decorating my skin.
“Congratulations, Megan,” Adira said.
“I don’t understand. I thought there was a whole process to ensure I was ready. Questions that the Council needed to ask me.”
“The process is different for each candidate. You proved your control last night. We saw no reason to delay giving you the mark. We do ask that you leave Uttira as soon as possible.”
That got my attention.
“What? Are you serious? First you’re hell-bent on keeping me here, and now you’re kicking me out?”
“Yes,” Adira said. “That’s the condition of your mark. Having a mature fury inside Uttira is dangerous to the young still trying to learn the rules of our world. We want to ensure they have a chance to learn to do what’s right before being punished for any mistakes made in ignorance. Oanen, you’re welcome back any time, of course.”
My temper flared, and the orange glow from my eyes reflected on Adira’s skin.
“No,” I said firmly. Everyone watched me, waiting. I could feel their fear. Of me.
“I will go, but I will return as I choose. And, I will punish the wicked as I see fit. If you truly want to protect your young, set better examples and start teaching them the rules from the moment they are born. Stop with the ridiculous classes in the Academy. Start teaching them their history and why they need to toe the line. And let them know, when they break the rules, there are bigger consequences than banishment from Uttira. I’ll drag them to hell.”
Raiden dipped his head.
“Yes, Fury.”
All the rest followed suit and said the same.
Oanen took my hand again, reclaiming my attention.
“Want to hang around for a while, or are you ready to go to New York?”
“I’m ready,” I said.
I was finally, truly free.
“It’s not fair,” Eliana said as she put another item from the fridge into the cooler. “I mean, it’s fair you have your mark; it’s not fair that they’re making you leave town.”
“They’re making your mom stay away,” I pointed out.
She gave a dry laugh.
“Mom is staying away because I asked her to. She doesn’t care what they say. You have your mark; you can come and go as you please. Just stay.”
I smiled at her. I would have never survived my time in Uttira without Eliana. I wasn’t about to abandon my friend permanently.
“I’ll be back,” I said.
“Then why are we packing everything up?”
“Because I won’t be back soon. It’s going to take some time to find my mom.”
“What am I supposed to do while you’re gone? You are my only friend.”
“Not true. You have Ashlyn, now. And Kelsey, Zoe, and Eugene.”
She snorted.
“They’re afraid of me. They know I’m something but just haven’t figured out what yet. When they do, they’ll start avoiding me like everyone else.”
“Fine. What about Fenris? He knows what you are, and he doesn’t ignore you.”
She turned and rolled her eyes at me.
“Fenris is the last person I’d want to hang out with.”
“I think that would hurt his feelings if he heard you say that,” I said. “He’s nice.”
“He’s way too into women. Look at all the trouble he caused because he wouldn’t leave you alone.”
I stopped trying to stick up for him. He’d need to figure out how to win over Eliana on his own.
“You’ll be fine. And if you get bored, you can call me. Or better yet, get your mark so you can come hang out with me in the real world.”
She groaned and continued loading things from the fridge to the cooler. My phone buzzed, and I read the text from Oanen.
Hope you’re ready. I’ll be there in twenty.
“If you got this covered, I’m going to go check over the rest of the house one more time. Oanen will be here in twenty minutes.”
“Go for it,” she called, her head buried in the fridge.
I walked upstairs and peeked into both rooms. I was leaving the place better than how I’d found it. Well, I was leaving it cleaner anyway. It was just as sad and empty as before, though. How many generations of furies had been dumped here?
“I got everything from the fridge,” Eliana called from downstairs. “I’m going to take the cooler out to the car.”
I returned to the first floor just as the porch door slammed shut. I checked the bathroom to ensure I had all my toiletries packed then turned around. The dismantled door chime caught my eye and made me smile. It hadn’t been easy living here, but it had been an adventure. Several of them, in fact.
Turning, I started toward the kitchen then paused to open the library door. I didn’t want the room to get musty if it took a while for me to return. Opening the door somehow knocked over one of the few books on the shelf.
Stepping into the room, I righted the thin tome. My fingers slid over the spine as I read the cover.
The Book of Fury.
Disbelief coursed through me as I plucked the book off the shelf and started to read. It was all there. Everything I needed to know. How to identify the signs of emerging power. How to embrace the anger to control the power. When it was time to leave my child behind so our powers didn’t feed off of one another.
I paged through to the end where it talked about the final phase of a fury’s growth and found a loose sheet of paper.
I know this probably isn’t nearly enough information to answer all the questions you have right now. I’m sorry for that. Here’s your great grandmother’s address. She’ll be waiting for you. Good luck. Call me when it’s done.
Love Mom
She’d even written her phone number. I skimmed the letter again. Call when what was done? I looked at the last page of the book and read the words that made a ball form in my stomach.
By the laws of the gods there can be only three furies. Each new generation must tear the oldest generation from her position in order to fully embrace her power.
“Oh, hell no,” I said, sitting heavily in the chair.
“Megan?” Eliana said from the doorway. “What’s wrong?”
I looked up from the sheet of paper and met my best friend’s eyes.
“I think I’m supposed to kill my great grandma.”
